Scandic holds “world’s biggest blind lunch”

Scandic Hotels is waiting for confirmation from the Guinness Book of Records after organising “the world’s largest blind lunch” at one of its properties.

The lunch was arranged at the Scandic Continental in central Stockholm, where “230 people sat down to enjoy a delicious meal without seeing a thing” – an attempt to draw attention to the International Day of Disabled Persons on December 3.

The idea was that people could experience, if only for a short while, what it is like to eat a meal in complete darkness.

Several federations, companies and organisations that work with disability issues were invited, as well as members of the general public.

Scandic hotels across Norway, Finland, Denmark and Germany have also arranged local events and highlighted the importance of the day to hotel guests.

In Norway for example, hotel managers are taking on the challenge to spend their normal working day in a wheelchair, which Scandic says is “a very good way to ensure that their hotels indeed meet the industry-leading standards that Scandic has set when it comes to accessibility”.

Design for accessibility
For many years, Scandic has tried to create an environment that is accessible to as many people as possible. A checklist of 110 points, called Scandic’s Accessibility Standard, covers everything offered by Scandic and is an integral part of all of Scandic’s products and services.

This has implemented “smart design” features to make its hotel rooms, conference facilities and restaurants accessible to people with disabilities

“In Sweden alone, about 1.8 million people live with some kind of disability and the issues they face aren’t always prioritised,” says Magnus Berglund, accessibility director at Scandic Hotels Group. “One way to highlight this is to physically experience what it’s like to live with a visual impairment. It only takes a couple minutes of wearing a blind mask to understand how important proper assistance and service are. This help is not provided everywhere today – and it’s what we’re working to change.”

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